Monday, June 14, 2004--During the month of May, 36% of
Texas voters rated the U.S. economy as good or excellent. A
Rasmussen Reports survey found that 34% rated the economy as fair
while another 28% said poor.

Texans are more optimistic than the national average. For the month of May nationally, 31% of all
American adults rated the economy as good or excellent while 33%
said poor.

Forty-two percent (42%) of Texans rate their own
finances as good or excellent. That's three points above the
national average of 39% for the comparable time frame.

[Note: 36% of Floridians rate the economy as good or
excellent even though the figures in table to the left appear to
total 35%. The difference is due to rounding.]

Rasmussen Reports measures the economic confidence of
Consumers and Investors on a daily
basis. In addition to gathering responses to specific questions,
we compile the data as the Rasmussen Index.

For the full month of May, the Rasmussen Consumer Index
averaged 109.2 on a national basis, while the Rasmussen Investor
Index averaged 131.3 nationally.

May
2004

Texas

National

Rasmussen
Consumer Index

117.4

109.2

Rasmussen
Investor Index

140.5

131.3

For the state of Texas, the Rasmussen Consumer Index
was at 117.4 for the month of May, eight points higher than figures for the
nation at large. The baseline of 100.0 was established in
October 2001. Higher readings mean a higher level of economic
confidence.

The Rasmussen Investor Index in Texas was nine points above
the national average.

Data has also been released for
California and
Florida. Other
state data will be added as the week unfolds.

Thirty-nine percent (39%) of Texas adults say the
economy is getting better while 49% say it is getting
worse.

There is often a strong correlation between perceptions of
the economy and voting patterns. Not surprisingly, however, the most recent Rasmussen Reports
Presidential polling data for Texas shows
George Bush with a commanding lead in his home state.

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This data has been compiled
from a national telephone survey of 15,000 Adults conducted by
Rasmussen Reports from May 1-31, 2004. Each night (except
Mothers’ Day), 500 interviews with Likely Voters were conducted.
State-by-state samples carry a margin of error that varies from +/-
3 percentage points to +/- 5 percentage points depending upon the
state. Data for Texas, Texas, and New York carries a 3
percentage point margin of error. For Florida, Illinois,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan, the margin of error is +/- 4
percentage points. For all other states, the margin of error is +/-
5 percentage points. In all cases, the margin of error is expressed
with a 95% level of confidence. In some states, oversampling and supplemental interviews were
used to obtain an adequate sample size for reporting
purposes.